Today is the 7th Iftaar, and after the Salat and dinner, I
decided to catch up with reflecting on Ramadan.

I received the following email from my African
American Muslim friend who reads my writings, “Mike; I keep sending you
such information because someday likely you will meet our Brother and I want to
start to introduce you now and before any actually meeting because I am very
aware of the opinion of many immigrant Muslim of us and generally it is not good
and some have told me to my fact "You All are not Real Muslims" ......not
realizing that it was us that paved the way for them to have some peace
here.”

Although I have addressed the above in bits and pieces, I wanted to focus on it and hope our Imams can address it in their Juma Khutbas (Sermon).

Stereotyping is a common pit that most of the humanity keeps falling into over and over again. It is judging the whole community, ethnicity or a nationality from the experience with one. As Muslims we get frustrated when we hear dumb statements like Muslims are terrorists, Arabs are rude, xxxx are not trust worthy…. and stuff like that, and yet shamelessly we indulge in it ourselves.

A few Arabs think that the Pakistanis are not Muslim enough, and the Pakistanis don’t see Indian Muslims to be Muslim enough, and Indian Muslims don’t think the Bangladeshis are Muslim enough and I guess they don’t think the Rohingi Muslims are not Muslim enough and there is no end to this baseless thinking and is contrary to the teachings of Islam in this case.

Most Muslims enthusiastically quote Prophet Muhammad's (pbuh) last sermon that no one is superior to the other… the question is, do we really mean it? Does it reflect in our words and actions?

Much of the wisdom and guidance in Quraan boils down to the things we need to do to keep a balance in the society, where no one has to be afraid of the other. Islam in one word: Justness.

Don’t we realize that Islam was a solution to generate peaceful (Islam) societies by knocking the arrogance out of individuals and communities? Arrogance is the root cause of most conflicts and troubles. God's wisdom is crystal clear; whom he likes the most and the least, the forgivers and arrogant people respectively. Just as you want your home to be in order, Allah wants his creation to be in order, and that order is harmony among people and things.

The note from my African American friend is a common thing with most of the humanity, but as Muslims we have specific instructions and guidance to avoid judging others. The word Taqwa has become a technical term and seems to have lost its essence.

You can argue all you want to argue about African Americans, Arabs, Pakistanis, Indian, Bangladeshis, Rohingis, Somalis or any one… but the fact is you will be buried with the same respect as others whether you are a Sunni, Shia, Ahmadiyya or from any religion, and your body will decompose at the same speed as others. You are not superior to the other when you are in that grave, your grave will get exact same sunshine, rain or winds as others.

Look at the practices in Islam - the Salat and fasting for instance, what do they do to you, and what is the cumulative effect of it? Allama Iqbal said it well, “Tujhe kya milega namaaz may” what do you get out of fasting and prayer, if it does not make you a humble person. Humility broadly means treating, feeling and acting equal with your employee, spouse, kids or others; Muslim or not. How do we measure up?

Pathetic material came up in the Economist yesterday, how Shia and Sunni are denigrating each other and calling each other infidels? Do they throw the Prophets’ last sermon out of window? Do they follow the Sunnah? I hope our Imams are urging their congregants not to denigrate others, absolutely not, for their own good in the long haul - so they can live in a safer society.

Religion, ethnicity, nationality and race should never be slapped with false labels for the acts of a few. Statistically, if you meet “one” Muslim, Hindu, Christian or a Jew and he or she turns out to be a bad person; you can claim that 100% of Muslims, Hindus, Christians or Jews are bad.

And if you meet two of each and only one of them turns out to be a bad dude, your statistic is halved; only 50% of Muslims, Hindus or others are bad.But when you meet 1000 of them in each group, most likely the following statistics will emerge.95% of people in every religious group get their religion right02% of people in every religious group are enforcers, tyrants02% of people in every religious group are easy goers01% of people in every religious group are intolerant onesThe statisticians can tell what a reliable sample is, which will yield similar results no matter where and when you test. This has been my observation of several groups that I have been a part of for nearly 20 years, and a part of my e-lists that I mail to Atheists, Baha'i, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jains, Jews, Muslims, Native Americans, Sikhs, Wicca, Zoroastrians and others.

I hope the Imams can pull verses from Quran and emphasize the ills of prejudice and stereotyping, instead of frightening with hell fire, which means nothing to many. God loves us all and wants us to live in peace and that is the summary of God’s will.

Not sure how many Muslims and others can shed their arrogance and prejudice towards others, I want to assure every Muslim, yes, every Muslim that he or she can count on receiving full dignity and respect from God for them and their belief and their tradition, whether they are a denomination of a Islam or of any religion. We are all God's creation (Children is not a descriptor in Islam).

As a fellow human, you can count on me to treat you with full respect for who you are, and as a symbolic gesture, I will visit your sacred place without hesitation, simply to honor your uniqueness that God has endowed you. I will not agree with you, and you may not agree with me, but we can respect each other; both of us are God's will.

Thank God for his guidance, I have made the time to visit every denomination among Muslims and have been with Aztecs to Zoroastrians and every one in between. I am confident of my faith Islam, that I follow and give respect to every one who is confident about his or her faith. When you do not have a strong faith, you shy away from knowing others and run from others, God wants us to know each other (49:13), so together we can create cohesive societies that are good for you and I and every one around us.

This is what God wants, to get along and keep the social, economic, spiritual and emotional world in balance and harmony with oneself and with others, and I believe that is God's will.

About My Israel-Palestine trip in Ramadan.

The pictures in the link above are of Ifaar and Suhoor at Masjid-al-Aqsa and Bait-al-Muqaddas and a street in Jerusalem before Iftaar. If you wish to see 250 pictures of entire Israeli and Palestinian lands, let me know, I will send you the link. I have traveled from Jerusalem to Golan Heights in the north and from Haifa down to Tel Aviv and in between been to Jericho, Nablus, Nazareth and other cities.

The bus tour guide was giving mis-information about Islam, she said Islam has six pillars, the first one is Jihad and she explained it means killing the infidels. It was not easy, but I am not going to let falsities go unquestioned, finally the tour operators agreed to change to five and also the right meaning of the word Jihad. Jihad is like nuclear power, in the right hands it is beneficent to the whole humanity and in the wrong ones, it is hell. Jihad in itself is a word, neither bad nor good, it is the struggle to fight our own conscience and win over the humanist ills like anger, hate, malice, jealousy etc. It is the user of Nuclear power that is good or bad, and not the word. Less than 1/10th of 1% abuse nuclear power, Jihad, Religion, presidency, chairmanships of corporations etc. They are dangerous, and we need to round them up and not what they are affiliated with; family, religion, nation, pastor or their holy book.

I must give credit to the Israelis on that thing. I am not sure, if I would have been thrown out of the bus in Islamic nations if I had stood up and wanted to correct mis-information. However, I have also seen the disgraceful walls of apartheid which weakens and gurantees insecurity to the Israeli society for years to come. As Mother Teresa says, they need to dialogue. Insha Allah, I will be in Jerusalem again in December and hope to work for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians.

Two Dutch Imams and I was on the bus, we did our Iftaar with the dates and we gave the Adhan as well in the bus. If you have an interest in seeing my individual share of work, please visit http://www.israelPalestinedialogue.com

# #
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Please mark your calendar for
the Unity Day USA, a positive event that brings all Americans Together to
rededicate our pledge for a peaceful, prosperous and secure America. We are a
part of America and we need to feel and live it. If you liked some of the
article, you will like the description of Unity Day USA at www.UnityDayUSA.com

A
few other Articles to read if you have the time:What does God really want?

We as Muslims plan to respond to pastor Terry Jones' planned burning of 3000 copies of Quran on September 11, 2013 in positive terms.

Our response - we will reclaim the standard of behavior practiced by the Prophet concerning “scurrilous and hostile criticism of the Qur’an” (Muhammad Asad Translation Note 31, verse 41:34). It was "To overcome evil with good is good, and to resist evil by evil is evil." It is also strongly enjoined in the Qur’an in the same verse 41:34, “Good and evil deeds are not equal. Repel evil with what is better; then you will see that one who was once your enemy has become your dearest friend.”

God willing Muslims will follow the divine guidance and pray for the restoration of Goodwill, and on that day many Muslim organizations will go on a “blood drive” to save lives and serve humanity with kindness.

We invite fellow Americans of all faiths, races, and ethnicities to join us to rededicate the pledge, “One nation under God”, and to build a cohesive America where no American has to live in apprehension, discomfort or fear of fellow Americans. This event is a substitute for our 10th Annual Unity Day Celebration (www.UnitydayUSA.com) held in Dallas, but now it will be at Mulberry, Florida.

Unwittingly Pastor Jones has done us a favor by invigorating us by his decision to burn nearly 3000 copies Quran on September 11, 2013. Obviously he is not satisfied by the notoriety he garnered by burning one Qur'an last year.

As Muslims and citizens we honor the free speech guaranteed in our constitution. We have no intentions to criticize, condemn or oppose Pastor Terry Jones' freedom of expression. Instead, we will be donating blood and praying for goodness to permeate in our society.

We plan to follow Jesus Christ (pbuh), a revered prophet in Islam as well as Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) – that of mitigating the conflicts and nurturing good will for the common good of the society.

We hope, this event and the message will remind Muslims elsewhere in the world as well, that violence is not the way. Muslims, who react violently to senseless provocation, should realize that, violence causes more violence, and besmirches the name of the religion that we hold so dear. We believe that Prophet Muhammad was a mercy to the mankind, and we ought to practice what we believe and preach. We must not insult Islam by the negative reactions of a few.

We can only hope it will bring about a change in the attitude of the followers of Pastor Jones, and in the behavior of those Muslims who reacted violently the last time Pastor sought notoriety – We hope this small step towards a bridge to peaceful coexistence would propel us towards building a cohesive society.

Like most Americans a majority of Muslims quietly go about their own business, but it is time to speak up and take positive action instead of negative reaction. May this message of peace and goodwill reverberate and reach many shores.

Lastly, we appreciate the Citizens of Mulberry, Florida, Honorable Mayor George Hatch, City Commissioners, police and Fire Chiefs for handing this situation very well. This will add a ‘feather of peace’ in the City’s reputation. We hope Mulberry will be a catalyst in showing the way in handling conflict with dignity and peace.

We thank the Media for giving value to the work towards peace rather than conflict.

CIVIL DIALOGUE

The people in Dallas are making an effort to understand and clean their own hearts first, when we are free from bias, it would be easy to share that with others. Islam teaches us in so many ways to "respect the otherness of others" and it is time we find simple practical ways of doing it.

SACRED - THE FILM

ABOUT US

The role of Muslims is to contribute towards the well being of humanity, and to be the conflict mitigaters and goodwill nurturers. Our goal is a secure world for every human. Please read the mission statement.

This group is about Muslims and their civic responsibilities in creating a dignified religious, social and civic space for themselves in the community of faiths. We do not distinguish between a Sunni, Shia, Ahmadiyya, WD Muhammad, Ismaili, Bohra or the subsets of each group, all believe in God, the Prophet and the accountability of their actions and whoever calls himself or herself a Muslim is a Muslim to us. Currently we are blessed to have our Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Bahai, Sikh and Buddhist friends among us to learn and share their perspective. This is our world and our God collectively.

MEMBERSHIP SINCE 2003

World Muslim Congress is a think tank, all are welcome to participate in the discussions, our scope is limited and defined in our mission statement. Currently, we have 1800 Members world wide with no membership fee.

To join the group, send an email to: WorldMuslimCongress-Subscribe@yahoogroups.com

WHAT WILL MUSLIMS DO WHILE QURAN IS BURNT

It is a purposeful positive event for Americans of different faiths, races, ethnicities and other uniqueness to come together to rededicate ourselves to our pledge; One nation under God with liberty and Justice for all. We will pray for peace, prosperity and security of our nation.

Last year the event focused on the positive response of Sikh community to the Wisconsin Shooting and this year, we will focus on the positive prayerful response of Muslim community to the planned Qur'an Burning by Pastor Terry Jones in Mulberry, Florida.

Click on pictures to see larger version of the photo

RSVP- ConfirmAttendance@gmail.comContact information - at the bottomPROGRAM DETAILSPictures indicate for visualization of the program as was done in Dallas, Texas We honor the free speech guaranteed in our constitution, and have no intentions to criticize, condemn or oppose Pastor Terry Jones freedom of expression. Instead, we will be donating blood and praying for goodness to prevail for the common good of the world. We hope, our mercy based message will remind those few Muslims elsewhere in the world that violence is not the way. We believe it may bring a change in the attitudes of followers of Pastor Jones, and in the behavior of those Muslims who reacted violently the last time Pastor sought notoriety.

Please join us for a life changing event, you will fall in love with the idea that all of us Americans will come together as Americans and nothing but Americans. While we have our identity, we look to each other as American and rededicate ourselves to our pledge; one nation under God with liberty and justice for all.

You will be a part of history in creating a model behavior in dealing with conflicts and building a cohesive America, where no American has to live in apprehension or fear of the other.The 10th Annual event is moved to Mulberry, Florida - for a singular purpose - to mitigate possible apprehensions generated by the planned burning of 2998 copies of Quran on September 11, 2013. We hope the event restores our faith in the cohesiveness of America, and we the people will go on about our business of living our daily lives.The full press release: http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2013/08/planned-muslim-response-to-quran_18.html

WE WILL GATHER;

to be together as Americans

to express our gratitude to our men and women in uniform

to honor individuals who have contributed to the well being of Mulberry, Florida

to emphasize and appreciate diversity represented by America.

to cherish the otherness of others.

to commit to be good neighbors

to rededicate our pledge to the peace, prosperity and security of America

Please join us with your family and friends to be together as Americans. Your presence is a valuable expression of unity. Along with our elected officials, civic, religious and business leaders, you help fulfill our common values and aspirations. Your presence fortifies our commitment to a pluralistic America.

As Americans, and as American of all hues, we uphold, protect, defend and celebrate the values enshrined in our constitution. All our faiths reinforce the creed of "One Nation under God, with liberty and justice for all”.

On this Unity Day USA, we, the people of the United States of America of every faith, race and ethnicity, will gather to express our commitment to co-existence, safety, prosperity and the well being of our nation.

PROGRAM: FLAG CEREMONY

NATIONAL ANTHEM

(Preferably joined in by members of at least 7 faith traditions, if not all)

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE:

To be led by the Hon. Mayor George Hatch of Mulberry

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Acknowledgement of dignitaries- Suzanne

Thanking key volunteers - Curtis

Thanking the Media- Butch

Appreciating the sponsors - Lynn

PURPOSE

Purpose - a new positive approach to conflict mitigation and rededicating to our pledge – one nation under God with Liberty and Justice for all- Mike

Mayors, Police and Fire chiefs, and Civic Leaders to share 3 minutes each – about their responsibility in treating each citizen with respect and dignity

HONORING THE ACTIVISTS

Those who have stood up for others

SPIRITUAL LEADERS

All-inclusive spiritual leaders will be on stage representing each tradition, and lighting a candle of the next, a symbolic gesture to be the light to others. Every available religious American representation in Polk County will be accommodated. This is not about sermons but about being together as Americans. Please beware, it is about Americans and included in the group will be Atheists, Pagans and other non-religious traditions.

PEACE PLEDGE

I will I will speak up when there is injustice.

I will speak up when truth is not spoken.

I will make my words and my actions mitigate conflicts.

I will do my share in nurturing goodwill for the benefit of all.

I will do my share of peace work, without looking for others

I will do respect the God given uniqueness of each individual.

I will do my best to live and let others live their way.

I will do my best to nurture goodwill in everything I do.

SPECIAL MUSLIM PRAYER

( 3-4 Minutes)Muslim prayers and supplication for the safety and security and unity of our nation. Pray for the well being of all Americans, and seek forgiveness for all of us, and may God guide Reverend Terry Jones to become a be blessed peace maker. Pray for the goodwill of the people of Polk county and Mulberry City, and pray for a cohesive America, where no American needs to live in apprehension, discomfort or fear or fellow Americans.

Please donate to defray the costs. All donors over $100 will be listed on this site. If one or two individuals want to sponsor, we would really welcome it. It will save us time. Donate athttp://americatogetherfoundation.com/donate/ MESSAGES - PRESS RELEASES

We as Muslims plan to respond to pastor Terry Jones' planned burning of 3000 copies of Quran on September 11, 2013 in positive terms.

Our response - we will reclaim the standard of behavior practiced by the Prophet concerning “scurrilous and hostile criticism of the Qur’an” (Muhammad Asad Translation Note 31, verse 41:34). It was "To overcome evil with good is good, and to resist evil by evil is evil." It is also strongly enjoined in the Qur’an in the same verse 41:34, “Good and evil deeds are not equal. Repel evil with what is better; then you will see that one who was once your enemy has become your dearest friend.”

God willing Muslims will follow the divine guidance and pray for the restoration of Goodwill, and on that day many Muslim organizations will go on a “blood drive” to save lives and serve humanity with kindness.

We invite fellow Americans of all faiths, races, and ethnicities to join us to rededicate the pledge, “One nation under God”, and to build a cohesive America where no American has to live in apprehension, discomfort or fear of fellow Americans. This event is a substitute for our 10th Annual Unity Day Celebration (www.UnitydayUSA.com) held in Dallas, but now it will be at Mulberry, Florida.

Unwittingly Pastor Jones has done us a favor by invigorating us by his decision to burn nearly 3000 copies Quran on September 11, 2013. Obviously he is not satisfied by the notoriety he garnered by burning one Qur'an last year.

As Muslims and citizens we honor the free speech guaranteed in our constitution. We have no intentions to criticize, condemn or oppose Pastor Terry Jones' freedom of expression. Instead, we will be donating blood and praying for goodness to permeate in our society.

We plan to follow Jesus Christ (pbuh), a revered prophet in Islam as well as Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) – that of mitigating the conflicts and nurturing good will for the common good of the society.

We hope, this event and the message will remind Muslims elsewhere in the world as well, that violence is not the way. Muslims, who react violently to senseless provocation, should realize that, violence causes more violence, and besmirches the name of the religion that we hold so dear. We believe that Prophet Muhammad was a mercy to the mankind, and we ought to practice what we believe and preach. We must not insult Islam by the negative reactions of a few.

We can only hope it will bring about a change in the attitude of the followers of Pastor Jones, and in the behavior of those Muslims who reacted violently the last time Pastor sought notoriety – We hope this small step towards a bridge to peaceful coexistence would propel us towards building a cohesive society.

Like most Americans a majority of Muslims quietly go about their own business, but it is time to speak up and take positive action instead of negative reaction. May this message of peace and goodwill reverberate and reach many shores.

Lastly, we appreciate the Citizens of Mulberry, Florida, Honorable Mayor George Hatch, City Commissioners, police and Fire Chiefs for handing this situation very well. This will add a ‘feather of peace’ in the City’s reputation. We hope Mulberry will be a catalyst in showing the way in handling conflict with dignity and peace.

We thank the Media for giving value to the work towards peace rather than conflict.